Devotions - Prayer
Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
As we in Mark 16:15, Jesus Christ commissioned His Church to preach the good news of the Kingdom of God in all the world.
Here in Matthew 24:14 Jesus gives a prophecy of the effects of that preaching in the end time just before His return to save humanity from self-destruction (Matthew 24:21-22).
“A witness” here can mean “testimony” or “a declaration of facts”. The word is neutral—it can include both giving a message of hope and a message of warning. “The Gospel will bring either salvation or a curse, depending on how it is received” ( Matthew 24:14).
The “end” Jesus referred to is the end of this evil age of human misrule. When it ends, something much better will come in its place—the peaceful Kingdom of God.
The night is far gone; the day is at hand. (Romans 13:12)
- This is a word of hope to suffering Christians.
- It’s a word of hope to Christians who hate their own sin and long to be done with sinning.
- It’s a word of hope to Christians who long for the last enemy death to be overcome and thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14).
How is it a word of hope for all these?
“The night” stands for this age of darkness and all its sin and misery and death. And what does Paul say about it? “The night is far gone.” The age of sin and misery and death is almost spent.
The key way it is different is that the day has dawned in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the end of this fallen age. He defeated sin and pain and death and Satan. The decisive battle is over. The kingdom has come. Eternal life has come. Amen
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You acted foolishly,” Samuel said…. 1 Samuel 13:13
The prophet Samuel had anointed Saul the first king of Israel. Saul was now 30 years old and was leading the nation in battle against the Philistines.
Saul, fearing the impending attack, took it upon himself to offer the burnt offering. After he had done this, Samuel showed up.
...“You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, He would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after His own heart and appointed him leader of His people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command” (1 Samuel 13:13-14).
Saul believed he needed to take control of the situation.
Whenever we try to take control of a situation out of God’s will, we demonstrate that we are led by fear.
Many a boss is so driven by fear that he attempts to manage by over controlling his people.
*This results in codependent relationships in which the employees are fearful of making the wrong decisions, and are driven to please the manager at all costs.
*This results in loss of respect for the manager.
*Do you see any signs of over control in how you relate to others?
*Can you allow others the freedom to fail?
*Do you find yourself changing directions in midstream when you see something you don’t like?
*Are you fearful of failure?
These are all symptoms of a Saul-control spirit.
Beatitude #3 Matthew 5:5 God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.
#3 of 8 Truths to master life:
I sincerely ask the Holy Spirit to show me what I need to do and empower me to follow through in obedience.
Result: I am released from my need to control everything.
I am “Free.”
*The reason for this is that I now trust God, Who knows all, and He has promised those who are meek, that they will inherit the earth. Faith in God has freed one from the burden of trying to push, manipulate or force, in order to get one’s way.
Are we sorry for grieving the heart of God… for denying God the right to own our personality… to own our mind… to own our thoughts… to own our emotions? (If not) we’re robbing God.
I Pray that God will allow us to walk in the freedom of trusting in Him and those around us. Amen
Read MoreScripture has plenty to say about the orphan and our responsibility to them.
*We’re instructed that our neglect of the orphan reflects the purity of our faith before the Father (James 1:27).
*We’re warned that mistreatment of the orphan is punished by the wrath of God (Exodus 22:22–24).
*We are also exhorted to seek justice for the orphan (Psalm 10:8, 82:3).
Since Scripture is our guide for living faithfully in this fallen world, we cannot afford to ignore the orphan if we desire to follow Christ.
During Old Testament times, the word “orphan” most often referred to children that were fatherless and not only isolated to those who had lost both parents.
***However, when our culture thinks about orphans, hardly anyone thinks about the boy or girl growing up in a single-mother home.
Contrary to society’s claims, fathers play a crucial role in the mental, emotional, and spiritual development of a child.
Voddie Baucham has noted some startling statistics on fatherlessness.
*Nearly 75 percent of fatherless American children will experience poverty before the age of eleven, compared to 20 percent of those raised by two parents.
*In fact, fatherlessness is the number one cause of poverty in America.
Although it happens on occasion, very few children are living in poverty with a father in the home.
*Children living in homes where fathers are absent are far more likely to be expelled from school.
*They are also more likely to drop out of school, develop emotional or behavioral problems, commit suicide, and fall victim to child abuse or neglect.
*Fatherless males are far more likely to become violent criminals (fatherless males represent 70 percent of the prison population serving long-term sentences) (Baucham, What He Must Be, 22).
The assumption that the father is of little use in the home and lives of children is costly.
This mindset is especially unfortunate because the church has adopted it, at the very least, in practice, even in Reformed circles.
*We reveal this when we show little care for those without fathers.
If the church wants to bring up young male and female leaders in their congregations and effectively evangelize their city, they must address the issue of fatherlessness. This is not an option.
But how does this look?
We Can Learn from Paul
Paul is a great model for what it meant to be a spiritual father. He exhorts the church at Corinth to “be imitators” of his fatherly example (1 Corinthians 4:15–17).
In this passage, Paul points out that the Corinthian Christians have many “guides” but few fathers.
The difference between teachers and fathers is intimacy. Paul perhaps recognized that mere words are insufficient — opening our mouths isn’t enough if we never open our hearts to train.
It takes men and families building relationships with kids and young adults intentionally looking for spiritual sons and daughters to adopt “unofficially.”
To our surprise, I think we’d find most kids and young adults with absent fathers would be open to older godly men acting as a spiritual father in their lives.
These relationships need to be developed patiently, with the local church encouraging and supporting this initiative in the context of discipleship.
There are many men in our local congregations who God may be calling to say them — and fill the gap.
Lord, thank You for Your love and being my Father and adopting me as your son. Thank You for my earthly father , which I had, that did the best he new how. Help us all to see the need of the ones without an earthly father present in their lives and ask the Holy Spirit what He would like us to do. Show me that the fatherless should be considered orphans and what they may need. Amen
Read More“Because I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold, and because I consider all your precepts right, I hate every wrong path. Psalm 119:127-128
What’s your attitude towards God’s commands?
*Do you fear them?
*Do you resent them?
*Do you try to get away from them?
****That’s a foolish attitude.
Remember, God gave His commands to us:
*Not to create problems for us but to solve them
*Not to harm us but to help us.
God Loves us and wants the Best from us–He calls us His Masterpiece!
God’s love is in His commands.
They are given to save us from ourselves, to save us from evil, to show us the way out of our difficulties and our problems.
But God’s commands are infinitely more precious and the psalmist had learned that.
Instead of running from God’s commands, resenting them, obeying them reluctantly, he said, “I love your commands more than pure gold.”
And then he said, “Because I consider all Your precepts right, I hate every wrong path.”
You see, when we love God’s commands and obey them; automatically they:
*Reveal to us what is wrong.
*They show us how to distinguish between good and evil, between what is beneficial and what is harmful.
*And when we are walking in the light of God’s commands, they keep us from everything harmful, from everything hurtful, from every wrong path.
*and we too experience God’s Love for us and in us.
“I acknowledged my sin to Thee, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said ‘ I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’; and Thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin.'” Psalms 32:5
God’s 10 Commandments are our perfect loving Boundaries set by God.
“God’s statutes and commandments are my delight worth more than gold and silver and they give me understanding”.
“Secrets to a Blessed Life” lies in the Power of God’s Word-Jesus.(see John 1)
I’d like to challenge you to pray through Psalm 119.
This Psalm is an acrostic poem (each section correlates to a letter of the Hebrew alphabet) with 22 sections.
*Take one section a day.
*Read a verse, then pray that verse to God in your own words.
*If you do this from your heart, I believe you will begin to love God’s Word more than you ever have. (I can say this because I have done it.)
Psalms 119:33 Teach me, O Lord, the lifestyle prescribed by your statutes, so that I might observe it continually. Amen
Read MorePsalm 143:1–3 Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications! Answer me in Thy faithfulness, in Thy righteousness! And do not enter into judgment with Thy servant, for in Thy sight no man living is righteous. For the enemy has persecuted my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground.
The psalmist there was struggling with a dark force that attacks almost every one of us at some time or another, the force of condemnation.
Each of us has an enemy, an accuser, one who seeks to make us feel guilty, unworthy, one who reminds us of our failures and our shortcomings and our unworthiness, and if we let him go on speaking to us he’ll crush our life down to the ground.
The answer is the answer that the psalmist found. He turned to God and he prayed. And he said, “Give ear to my supplications. Answer me in Thy faithfulness and in Thy righteousness.”
When we are facing condemnation and a sense of unworthiness, it is most important that we don’t listen to the enemy any longer; that we turn to God and that we appeal to God for help. Not on the basis of our righteousness or our faithfulness, but on the basis of God’s righteousness and God’s faithfulness. That is the way out from condemnation. That’s the way back into victory.
We don’t ask God to enter into judgment with us, we ask Him to answer us on the basis of His righteousness and His faithfulness and when we do that, we are released from that dark power of condemnation. Amen
Read: Romans 8:1-3,34-35, John 3:18-21, Psalms 32
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Right before Jesus went to the cross, he gave his last minute instructions to his followers: “Live in me, and I will live in you. A branch cannot produce any fruit by itself. It has to stay attached to the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit unless you live in me” (John 15:4).
Jesus says that being spiritually connected is like being attached to a vine. You’re not going to have any fruitfulness or productivity in your life if you’re out there on your own. You’ve got to stay connected.
In plants, a disconnected branch can’t bear fruit. When you don’t have the support, you not only start to whither and die, but you also don’t have any productivity in your life if you’re not spiritually connected.
We’ve got to be connected in order to produce fruit.
What kind of fruit should you produce when you are connected to the Body of Christ? “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control” (Galatians 5:22-23a).
I don’t know about you, but I’d like to be more loving. I’d like to be more joyful. I’d like to be more at peace, no matter what happens to the economy. I’d like to be more kind to people who are mean to me. I’d like to be a good person. I want to be faithful, not unfaithful. I want to keep my promises. I’d like to be gentle with people who are not very gentle. And I’d like to have more self-control.
That’s called the fruit of the Spirit, and it’s the evidence that you are spiritually connected. If you are not seeing yourself grow in all these things, guess what? It means you’re not spiritually connected.
God says this is so important that you’re not going to have any fruitfulness or any productivity in your life if you’re out there on your own.
I’ve got to be connected to the Body of Christ. You’ve got to be connected to the Body of Christ. We’re simply better together.
Ecclesiastes 4:12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
- Yes we are created for relationships, not to go through life alone!
- We is always better than Me!
There have been so many times I have tried to go out alone. Now I am so grateful for fellow believers who are doing life with me. Encouraging or confronting whatever is necessary.
Thank you Jesus for the Body of Christ-Amen
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Jesus said in John 15:14, “You are my friends if you do what I command” .
- You can’t say you love Jesus and then go live like the devil.
- You can’t say you’re a Christian and then keep on living a self-centered life.
- You can’t say you’re a follower of Jesus and then pick and choose the verses that you want to listen to and ignore the ones you don’t.
- Jesus says you’re his friend if you obey him and his commandments.
Why do we obey God? Nonbelievers get this wrong all the time. They say, “I don’t want to be a Christian because I don’t want to obey God. You believers obey him out of guilt or fear or obligation, and I don’t want that for my life.”
Why do we believers really obey God? Because he loves us! He wants the best for us. He loves you like nobody else will ever love you. The Bible says the only reason there’s love in the world is because God is love.
- We don’t obey God out of fear or guilt or obligation.
- We obey God out of love because he loved us and saved us.
Some people say, “Because you’re a Christian. You can’t do any of the fun stuff the rest of us do.”
Just look at them in the eye and say, “I could take all the drugs I want to take. I could get stoned all I want to get stoned. I could drink all I want to drink. I could go to all the parties I want to go to. I could go to bed with as many women as I want. I can disobey my parents.” But here’s the difference: Jesus changed my “want to.” I didn’t want to do those things then. I don’t want to do those things now. They are cheap, phony thrills that seem to give a temporary kick to life but then they kick back. They may look like freedom, but they don’t last, and they lead to despair, not dignity — depression, not delight.
John 15:9-11 says, “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me … When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!”
God doesn’t want you to obey him because you’re afraid of him. He doesn’t want you to obey him because you’re scared of punishment. God wants you to obey him because of love. It’s HIS love that leads to true joy. AMEN
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We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ” 2 Corinthians 10:5b.
Here’s the secret to temptation: Don’t fight it. Just refocus. Whatever you resist persists.
Did you know that in the Bible, not once are you told to resist temptation? We are told to resist the Devil, and that’s a whole different issue.
But the key to overcoming temptation is not to push back. It’s to change your focus.
Whatever gets your attention gets you.
- The battle for sin always starts in the mind. That’s why the Bible says in Psalm 119:6, “Thinking about your commands will keep me from doing some foolish thing”(CEV). Why? Because if you’re thinking about God’s truth, you’re not thinking about the less important stuff.
It’s true in every single area of life — good or bad.
- If you focus on godly things, it’s going to pull you that direction. If you focus on the stuff that’s at the movies and in magazines, it’s going to pull you that direction.
- Whatever you focus on gets your attention.
- Whatever gets your attention is going to get you.
- The key is to just change your mind.
Temptation always follows a predictable pattern: attention, arousal, and action. Your mind gets hooked, your mind kicks in, and then you act on it.
So you don’t fight a temptation; you just turn your mind to something else. “We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5 NCV).
The thing is, we’re not very good at capturing every thought and turning it to Christ, because it takes lots of practice. You can’t always control your circumstances, and you can’t even always control the way you feel. But you can control what you think about. That’s always your choice. And if you change the way you think, it changes the way you feel, and that will change the way you act.
Psalms 119:11 Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
Psalms 119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept your word.
1 Corinthians 10:13 There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.
Ephesians 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Hebrews 2:18 For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.
James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him.
James 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man:
James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
AMEN
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Jesus replied, Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. (John 3:3)
A new birth is absolutely essential to enter the kingdom. John points to a radical new beginning which comes from above.
• It signifies God must do this.
• It is speaking of something radical, a new beginning.
• It is a second birth, but it comes from above.
• It is God that does it, not man; and it results in a new creation, a new beginning.
This idea appears many times in the New Testament.
• Paul speaks of babes in Christ, (1 Corinthians 3:1).
• Peter says, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow, (1 Peter 2:2).
• Again Peter says we are born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, (1 Peter 1:23).
• And he speaks of being born to a living hope, (1 Peter 1:3).
• Paul speaks not only of being new creatures in Christ but of a new creation; of passing from death unto life, of a new, radical start.
Jesus makes clear that this is the only way to enter the kingdom of God.
To be in the kingdom of God, of course, is to belong to God; it is to be a part of his rule, his reign, his domain. Paul speaks of being transferred from the kingdom of darkness, ruled by the god of this world, into the kingdom of the Son of his love, (Colossians 1:13).
Thus, Jesus was referring to a transfer of citizenship, a radical departure from what we once were.
Jesus sensed in Nicodemus (John 3) a deep hunger, an emptiness. Here was a man who was doing his level best to obey what he thought God wanted, yet he had an empty and unsatisfied heart that led him to seek out Jesus by night, at the risk of the displeasure of his peers, to talk with him about the kingdom of God.
Sensing this our Lord immediately puts him on the right track, saying to him, in effect, You are wasting your time if you think you can enter the kingdom of God the way you are. You cannot do it. You must be born again.
Father, thank you for the miracle of new birth which comes only from above. It is only through your great power and love that such a thing could happen to me. Amen (See Ephesians 2:1-10 too)
Psalm 23:1-3 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
Psalm 23 is one of the most beloved and memorized Psalms. King David’s personal experience as a shepherd gave him unique training to be king and special insight into God’s role as our Good Shepherd.
These first three verses highlight God’s gentle and generous care for us.
- Green pastures mean plenty to eat without the constant struggle of moving from place to place in search of food.
- The still waters provide abundant water without the fear that fast-moving streams might evoke.
- The paths of righteousness are the safe and beneficial routes God leads us in life.
God’s spiritual sheep enjoy all these blessings in abundance through God’s Word (our food), the Holy Spirit (our water) and God’s righteous and beneficial way of life.
Lord, Thank You for being our Shepherd and help us to allow You to Shepherd us each and every hour through your voice, your word and Christian relationships. Amen
Read MoreOnly as we’re willing to “empty” ourselves are we ready to be “filled” with God.
* “I shall lift up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.”Psalm 116:13
Are You Living a Divided Life?
I see so many of us Christians today who divide up our lives into tightly packed little compartments: the sacred and the secular.
The sacred is what we do on Sunday, and the secular is up for grabs.
It’s just whatever happens! So we have our sacred life at church, and we do our business with the world the rest of the time.
But the real Christian life—the Jesus life—is to do all things in word and in deed to the glory of God.
There’s no difference between what you are on Sunday and what you are every other minute of the week!
That’s why this commandment in [Matthew 22:37] is just so important. It’s Jesus’ reminder to you and me that when we truly love God, it will be with every fiber of our being.
*It’s not that we just give Him one day a week and live however we want the rest of the week.
No, we seek to glorify Him with our entire lives. That’s real love!
Maybe you’ve found yourself at times acting like a different person depending on whether you’re in a “religious” or “secular” setting. But in reality, you should be the same person in both settings.
So lets not let the day of the week dictate how devoted we are to following Christ.
Honor JESUS every day with your entire being!
Our need to love is every bit as strong as our need to be loved.
Dear Lord, thank You for calling us Your children – And for making a home within us, so we may rest secure in You. Because You are our dwelling place, we are never alone. Help us have Your Value system be the Same 24/7 for Your Glory and our Joy. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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Have you ever felt like you have been obedient to the Lord for something He called you to do and all you get are more roadblocks?
This is the way Moses felt. When Moses went to tell Pharaoh to release the people because God said so, Pharaoh simply got angry and made the people make bricks without straw.
Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and You have not rescued Your people at all. – Exodus 5:23
*Moses caught the blame for this from the people.
*Moses was just learning what obedience really means in God’s Kingdom.
*You see Moses had not even begun to release plagues upon Egypt.
*He hadn’t even gotten started yet in his calling, and he was complaining about his circumstances.
Why would God tell Moses that He is going to deliver them and not do it?
It was all in timing. God never said when He was going to deliver. He just said He would.
In the next chapter, we find Moses arguing with God about not being capable of the job God had called him to:
But Moses said to the Lord,
“If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?” Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and He commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 6:12-13)
God had a good reason for His delays. He said,
“And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it” (Ex. 7:5).
God not only wanted the people of Israel but also the Egyptians to know Him. It would be the greatest show of God’s power on earth.
God often causes delays in our lives that we cannot understand. Sometimes it seems our obedience is not getting rewarded.
Jesus said He learned obedience through the things He suffered (see Heb. 5:8).
Imagine that – Jesus having to learn obedience.
What does that say for you and me?
Sometimes God’s delays are simply because He wants more glory in the situation, more recognition, more Christ-likeness in you and me through greater patience and obedience.
Faint not, for the promise may yet come.
Are you in need of hope today? Will you choose to remember God’s faithfulness, love, and mercy, despite the despair and destruction around you? Today, dare to hope.
Dear Lord, I want to dare to hope, but life around me seems uncertain and tentative. Will You help me remember Your faithfulness, love and mercy? Thank You in advance for what You are going to do. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Read MoreWhat is the key to success and victory when the enemies aligned against us seem too great to overcome? It may seem unlikely, but here is one answer: giving thanks.
Revelation 12:11 tells us we defeat the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. What might that testimony sound like? “Give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.”
Thanksgiving is our song for every battle. It is a key to our victory!
Do you see the tremendous potential of giving thanks to release God’s miracle-working power in our lives?
A beautiful example of this principle is in the story of the ten lepers who met Jesus in Luke 17, verses 12–19….
- All ten lepers were cleansed.
- All were healed physically.
- But something completely extra—and the most important thing of all—happened to the one man who returned to give Him thanks.
Jesus said to him in verse 19: “Rise and go, your faith has made you well.”
So you see, there was an important difference between the nine who were healed physically and the tenth who came back to give God thanks. He was not merely healed physically, but he was saved. His soul was saved. He was brought into a right eternal relationship with God.
The same is true in our lives. Giving thanks for blessings already received sets the seal of permanence upon them.
Lord, I want to commit myself fully to this principle of giving thanks in all situations. I offer my thanksgiving as my victory song to You, O Lord. Amen.
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*We will be confronted with suffering, pain grief and trouble.
*We must be prepared.
**We prepare by spending time with God.
***Our brokenness allows God to work.
Psalm 51:16–17 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
What is David the psalmist telling us there?
Surely he’s telling us that first and foremost God is not interested in externals.
*Sacrifice and offerings are not necessarily things that God does not want, but they are things that He does not want first and foremost.
*And if that’s all there is in our lives – the external practices of religion – then God takes no pleasure in them.
*God looks below the surface
*God looks to the heart
*God looks to the motives
*God looks to the attitude.
*And it says that the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: “A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
Those are strange words to our ears today.
What does it mean that God desires a broken spirit?
*Does He want to crush us?
*Does He want to beat us down?
*Does He want to humiliate us?
No, I’m sure that’s not it.
What is a broken spirit?
I think it’s a spirit that has come totally to the end of itself.
*All independence, all self-will and all self-righteousness have been purged out. (A Bankrupt Spirit)
We’ve come to the place where we have no hope but in God; we’ve come to the end of our own resources.
We have no claims upon God, we simply turn to Him for His mercy and His faithfulness, not trusting our own merits, but clinging only to God.
God can create a pure heart in anyone!
Therefore repent and ask God to make you a new creature and live for him and him alone…
Isaiah 42:16 I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them. AMEN
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John 17:18 “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.”
We are not from the world. Through the new birth, we come from God and should constantly remind ourselves of this.
It is not good to be too “at home” in the world.
We are in the world but are not of the world.
Great men and women of God have always had this attitude.
Christ Followers are not to isolate themselves from the world.
*Jesus did not isolate himself from the world, rather He came to the world to hang out with the sinners of the world.
The primary reason that God chooses to use those who are nothing by the world’s standards, is so no one else can take credit for the great things that are accomplished.
If the Lord used those who had it “all together” in the natural, then they would share the glory that rightfully belongs to God alone.
But when the Lord works miraculously through someone who obviously has no talent or ability, then everyone says, “This must be God.”
Not only does this keep others from misdirecting the glory that belongs to God, but it keeps the person who God uses from swelling up with pride.
One of Satan’s greatest weapons against someone who is being used by God is to tempt them to think that the Lord is using them because they possess some superior virtue.
God uses “nobodies.” If we think we’ve become “somebody” (in our flesh), then we will cease being used.
*He will not share His glory with anyone else (Isa. 42:8).
For what is Jesus praying?
*To make them so clean in all aspects of their lives that they can draw people to God. For God will never force ANYTHING on us, for like the angels in Heaven we to have free will.
We are not here just to be good people. We are here to work to advance God’s Kingdom!!!!
Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your commands, and I shall keep them to the end. Give me understanding that I may keep Your law. Help me stay on the path of Your commandments, for in them I delight. Amen.
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